Near To You
by SilentKnightInDisguise11
Summary: One-shot! Sayu tries to continue life without her brother Light or father Soichiro. Of course, the man with white hair who keeps on showing up at her work complicates matters. NearxSayu, one-sided LxSayu


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_Title: Near To You_

_Summary: One-shot! Sayu tries to continue life without her brother Light or father Soichiro. Of course, the man with white hair who keeps on showing up at her work complicates matters. NearxSayu, one-sided LxSayu_

_Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Romance_

_Rating: T_

* * *

**Silent Knight: Well-y, well-y, well. Finally! A Near/Sayu oneshot! Man, I've been working on this for a few weeks, and just finished it today. After looking through it to - hopefully - take out all of my mistakes, I can only hope, wish, etc, that you'll enjoy it. Like the summary says, there is some L/Sayu one-sided-ness, which is mentioned quite sometimes.**

**The beginning is before the SPK arc, so, obviously, L isn't dead. In this oneshot, this is what Sayu knows: she was kidnapped with something that had to do with a notebook that could, apparently, kill people, and this was what Kira used **_(either she uses her intelligence that she - apparently - develops years later to realize this, or Mello was talking about it in front of her so she realized the truth when held captive)_**, Light and Soichiro were killed trying to capture Kira; Kira had managed to kill Light before they could get him into custody.**

**Remember - I only own this one-shot, the plot for this one-shot, and nothing else. The rest belongs rightfully to Ohba and Obata.**

**And that's pretty much it, I think.**

* * *

**Near To You**

**Oneshot**

Ryuuga Hideki had been the so-called best friend of her onii-chan, Light Yagami. He sometimes would show up, asking about her brother, and she'd tell him that onii-chan was out or in the shower or something, just so he'd wait with her in the living room, where she'd sneak glances at him from the corner of her eye, blushing every time she did.

After all, he was older than her - something about this made her insides squeeze together and breath become hard to draw in and out. At first, this was why she lied to him about where her brother was, but over time, her feelings began to become deeper and deeper until she was unable to believe it - she had a _massive crush_ on Ryuuga-kun. And to think, the obsession started when she found out he had the same name as her favourite pop idol. But now it was different; his messy, coal-black hair made her heart thump, his disinterested black eyes made her palms sweat, and the unique - which she had at first found creepy - way he sat made her head swim.

Of course, he never showed any interest in her - and why would he? She was just some girl who was way younger than him. Perhaps he had a crush of his own, or perhaps he had a girlfriend. Though he looked..._different_, it was obvious that he was cute; surely he could find a decent girlfriend!

Either way, he never openly stared at her or said anything nice to her or anything. Once, he had showed up, but Light had been out, so she showed him to the living room, hoping he'd notice her haircut and compliment on it, though he didn't _(just like she had expected)_; he simply sat down in the living room with her in silence as she hoped and prayed Light would take time to show up from wherever he might be.

It had been deathly silent, but Sayu was used to it, so she simply stared down at her hands, her eyes darting over to look at him every once and a while, a blush coating her cheeks whenever she did.

Suddenly, though, he spoke up, "Sayu-chan?"

She snapped her head up, eyes wide and mouth pulled into a surprised but happy smile. "Yes, Ryuuga-kun?" Her heart was beating loudly in her chest, and she was feeling a bit light-headed; this was the first time he'd begun a conversation. Usually it was the other way around, or Sayu and Ryuuga simply sat in silence.

"I have noticed that you are...attracted to me," He began, chewing on his thumb nail, thus making his voice muffled, "I'm afraid to tell you that my feelings aren't exactly...the same. I do not see you that way. Please, do refrain from being too excessively love-struck in my presence. I do not mean to be mean or foul, Sayu-chan, but I do not feel comfortable. All I wish to do is wait in peaceful silence for Light-kun, your onii-chan."

Sayu was beyond shocked; she knew that Ryuuga was an overly blunt person, but she hadn't realized how rude and heart-breaking he could be! This wasn't the first time she'd had a crush, but this _was_ the first time someone had been so _rude and despicable_ to her! She knew that Ryuuga didn't _mean_ to seem as off-hand and mean as he had been, but this did not mean that she didn't feel embarrassed and broken-hearted and...and...

Swallowing down a lump in her throat, she nodded her head stiffly. "I-...I understand, Ryuuga-kun." She got up from the couch and began to walk up the stairs when Ryuuga called her name once more - honorific included, of course. She turned around, and asked him what it was as politely as she could. Tears were threatening to spill, but she blinked them away, not wanting him to see them.

"Could you please ask your mother, Sachiko-chan, to make me some of her chocolate chip cookies. They are quite delicious." He told her innocently, still chewing on his thumb nail.

Sayu felt her frame tremble a few times, but ignored this and nodded. "Of course, Ryuuga-kun." Excusing herself, she walked into the kitchen, croaked out the request Ryuuga had given her, and walked into the living room to go to her room and cry in peace.

"Oh, and Sayu-chan?" Ryuuga called out once more. She closed her eyes, and opened them once more, keeping her gaze on the stairs in front of her.

"Yes, Ryuuga-kun?"

"...thank you." She nodded once more, and walked up the stairs. As her foot hit the last stair left, the tears flooded her vision, and she stumbled, silently crying, into her room, closing the door carefully behind her and collapsing onto her bed, stuffing her head into the pillow and crying her eyes out.

This had been the last she had seen of Ryuuga Hideki, the boy who had her cry more than she had ever cried in her _life_. After wards, he never came back home; Sayu thought it might be because of the fact that Light and Ryuuga weren't friends anymore, or perhaps decided to go ahead and start meeting elsewhere because Ryuuga was disturbed by her fully now.

Sayu didn't care much; glad that he would never return again, but every time she thought of him, her heart still panged and her head still swam and her palms still got sweaty. Her crush, minimized over time, was still there, underneath, but she never allowed it to resurface as it had before.

Liking a boy like Ryuuga Hideki was _never_ the right thing to do.

She decided to go ahead and stick to the pop idol Ryuuga Hideki instead. It wasn't like she'd meet him, fall for him as hard as she had for the Ryuuga she had met, and have him break her heart into tiny pieces.

At least she could continue to like the pop idol without him practically telling her how much he was disgusted at the very notion of them being together.

She still remembered this, even now, about ten years after wards. Today was the death anniversary of her onii-chan, Light Yagami, and when she thought of Light, she couldn't help but think of _Ryuuga_. This time, nothing really happened, though; the numbness of the loss of her brother Light and father Soichiro too much on this death anniversary.

Sayu couldn't believe that, months ago, she had been in a wheelchair, unresponsive to any treatment her mother, Sachiko Yagami, paid for. Since their brother and father were dead, "killed in the line of duty" as they were told, her mother had decided to work in a flower shop as Sayu spent all her time crying and sitting in a wheelchair. After she had _finally_ gotten better, Sayu threw herself into work.

Currently, she was juggling _three jobs_, as many as that may seem. But her mother and her needed money desperately, and so they did their best to have a surplus of it just in case, so while Sayu began studying to the best of her abilities - _without Light over her shoulder, scolding her and telling her the answer was 43, _not_ 30.5, and that she seriously should've studied for the math test _days_ before, not on the night of the test_ - and began getting A's and B's. Slowly, she began to get higher marks, having the occasional B here and there, and though they would _never_ be as impressive as Light's had been, at least they were _something_.

If she kept this up, perhaps she'd be able to get a full-time job that would give her mother and her more money than she was currently making. Sayu hoped so, while Sachiko kept on protesting, telling her that the need to study and get good grades while juggling three jobs was a bad idea. But Sayu never listened, only continued to work and work and study and study until she was pulling all-nighters three days in a row and whatnot.

Light would've wanted her to do so; father would've wanted her to do so. That was all she could think of, so she continued to over-work herself, continued to study harder and harder until she was getting straight A's. Not A+'s, but A's and A-'s. Though they were great, they weren't _Light great_, so she strived and pushed and shoved, knowing all the while there was no way she'd be as smart as Light, but she continued anyway; blindly trying to be as good and as smart as her onii-chan, simply because that was what Light would've wanted her to do; that was what her father would've wanted her to do.

* * *

"Sayu. It's time for school, honey." Came her mother's calm voice, and Sayu jerked away, picking her head up from her textbook. Huh - she'd fallen asleep studying. Typical. That was what she did now-a-days; not sleeping in her bed, but while she was studying either for a test or working on an assignment. Just like how Light sometimes did - of course, he'd been an _absolute genius_ and managed his time _way_ better than Sayu ever would.

Or perhaps the reason why she wasn't good at time management was because of the fact that she was juggling three jobs, something that Light had never done.

Oh well, whatever. Doesn't matter. Even if she didn't have those jobs, she _still_ wouldn't be as good as time management as onii-chan had been; she just had to try and understand this, because that was the reality of things. Light was better at her than everything, and she should always be the sister who was stuck in his shadow, even _after_ he was dead and gone, something that _hurt_ to think of.

Light - dead. Father - dead.

It was just her and her mother now. The thought made her sick to her stomach, and she clapped a hand over her mouth and ran to the bathroom, hurling her guts and sadness and angst into the toilet bowl as her mother, crying for she just _knew_, held her hair back for her.

* * *

Her test had gone wonderfully; she no doubt had aced it, and now it was time to go to her first job; the flower shop where her mother used to work in until Sayu practically _forced_ her to let go of the job and allow her to take over her place instead. Her boss in the flower shop was a plump, angry-looking woman who always bossed Sayu around, but was always tender and loving at times as well. Her mood changes were always drastic, but Sayu could handle it, so she kept her job, unlike other employees who always quit after a few weeks of vigorous commands from Sayu's boss, Misori Cheng.

Misori Cheng had no family, which also made Sayu wince as she remembered this fact, and was deaf in one ear. Her husband had left her and her son had died at the age of eighteen in a car accident, which also killed his girlfriend. Sayu couldn't help but pity Misori, but Misori _hated_ pity, so Sayu did her best to act nonchalant when Misori laughed, most of the times even bursting into tears, as she talked about her family.

After all, she understood what she felt quite exactly; the need to cry whenever she thought or spoke about _them_, the need to tell everyone to leave her alone when she saw pity in their eyes, or when they pitied her, or when she told them about the kidnapping situation that had happened to her before the deaths of her father and brother. She still remember how the "mafia boss" looked like; very feminine, but he was anything but, waving his flashy gun around. At the time, Sayu had been deathly scared, and now, she couldn't exactly be scared of him anymore - as if he had just been some nightmare that she was really fuzzy about, but she remembered everything about him in vivid detail.

Not that it mattered anymore, though. Apparently, he had been killed; or, at least, that's what her brother Light had told her, when he came to visit her once. She remembered feeling numb, and nothing more.

* * *

Sayu was tending the roses in the flower shop when _he_ had first come in.

As the bell above the door rang, Sayu whirled around; plastering fake happy smile on her face as she bowed respectfully at the customer, then curiously ran her eyes over the customer. Her heart started to beat loudly, her head swam, and her palms began to sweat.

This customer...looked almost like Ryuuga Hideki, the boy who had broken Sayu's heart all those years ago _(she thought that she had forgotten this fact, but it seemed not, after all)_.

Of course, they looked a bit different; this boy had white hair, soft brown eyes, and wore what seemed to be white _pajamas_. She ignored this - she learned long ago to not judge people from how they look; Ryuuga had taught her this without ever meaning to - and asked him sweetly, "Hello, sir. My name is Sayu. May I help you?"

The boy - no, _man_; he seemed to be in his early twenties - twirled a single lock of white with one finger, staring with his huge eyes at her. "No, thank you; I wish to simply look around for now." He told her, not even moving an inch. His eyes continue to bore into hers until Sayu awkwardly looked away, looking over to the roses she had been tending to.

_When was he going to go and start looking around? _She wondered to herself as she walked towards the roses and began to water them.

After done this, she turned around to see the white-haired man still standing where he had before, when he had first walked into school. It had been _seven minutes_, and he was just _standing _there.

"Uh...sir? You _can_ look around if you'd like to." She told him awkwardly, blinking at him. For some reason, she couldn't forget _how identical_ he looked to Ryuuga, and this made her feel embarrassed and scared all in the same time. Were they cousins, brothers, or not even related? It wasn't in the looks department that they looked alike though; it was just...there seemed to be _something_ in his eyes that reminded her of Ryuuga, and the way he seemed so laid-back and intelligent, this white-haired man.

"Yes, I do know. I thank you for telling me, anyway." He told her in the same soft, calm voice she remembered Ryuuga using, and this scared her so much she nodded hastily, whirled around, and continued to work on watering the plants.

Even though she did this, though, she was very aware of the white-haired man's gaze on the back of her head. All day, he stayed there; not coming up to her, not talking to her, not looking around - simply staring at her as she managed the flower shop. Misori had come back from grocery shopping some time later, and had given the man a suspicious glance, but went back to work without sparing him a single glance after wards. Sayu wondered how she managed to pull it off.

At night that day, she had a dream that incorporated both Ryuuga and the mysterious man she had seen in the flower shop.

* * *

From that day forward, that white-haired man came each and every time to her flower shop; he even began to come to her _other work places_! It didn't help that they were all public places, either. In the flower shop, he was there. In the coffee shop, he was there. In the pastry shop, he was there. She swore that he even showed up at her school once, simply staring at her as students and teachers walked around him with frowns, no doubt wondering why this funny-looking man who wore white and carried _toys_ wasn't moving.

To be frank, at first, the white-haired man frightened Sayu; it was weird to have him suddenly show up in her life and stalk her day in and day out. Anyone she told would simply laugh and say, "The boy likes you, Sayu! It's _obvious_!" She never told her okaa-san; she might get worried about her, and Sayu didn't want her mother to get worried. The reason why she was trying so hard in school and at work was so that she had to never worry.

Later on, his presence began a comfort; he was always there, and he never left. Didn't leave like dad did; didn't leave like Light did; didn't leave like _Ryuuga_ did. He was always there, watching her, sometimes even talking to her when she asked him a few questions. If she asked more than three in a row, though, he'd shut down immediately. And if she asked him things about where he worked or what he did, he wouldn't say anything; only coolly watched her like Ryuuga used to do.

Sayu never asked him his name, however.

She had the feeling he'd simply lie to her; or perhaps he'd keep quiet and not say anything.

* * *

It was two weeks later when he miraculously disappeared. Sayu had began to freak out; her breathing going erratic, her eyes widening until she couldn't stand it, and her hands began to shake. _Gone_, Was all she could think of. _He was _gone_, and he wasn't going to come back!_

Misori had decided to let her off for the day, and Sayu had run to a near by park in tears. She was sitting, crying, when someone approached her, and then sat down next to her. She could feel the heat of their body radiating off on her - that was how close they were sitting. Not even caring to wipe her tears, she looked up, and found herself staring into the face of the white-haired man.

Sayu found herself smiling, relief clouding her, and before she even realized what she was doing, she threw herself onto him, her arms going around his neck to clutch him tight to her. She was hugging him, a stranger who wasn't _exactly_ a stranger in her eyes anymore.

"I thought you were gone," She whispered, "I was _so_ scared."

He "hmm"ed as if this did not matter, and after a few seconds, his arms slowly went around her waist, responding to her hug. "It was just an experiment, you see. I wondered if you came to like being in my presence as I liked being in yours." He told her, and she found herself sobbing into the collar of his shirt.

"Well...did you find out your answer by now?" She asked him between sobs, unable to get herself to stop.

The white-haired man paused. "Yes."

"M...May I...ask you something? And...will...will you tell me the truth?" There was silence from the albino, and Sayu wondered at that point what he could _possibly _be thinking.

"I suppose you may go ahead and ask, but I shall not give you any promises that I may not be able to keep." He sounded so eerily like Sayu that she felt like shivering, but simply pulled away from him, wiped her tears, and looked deeply into his eyes. She could fall for him. Yes, he was sort of creepy, but being in his company made her feel better, and by what he had told her before, he felt the same way. So, yes; Sayu could most definitely fall for him - in love, that is. Deep down, she wondered if he would ever feel the same, or if he already did.

But this was not what she asked him.

"...what's your name?" She murmured softly, staring into his eyes.

Sayu wondered if he'd answer; she hoped he would. If they were to begin their friendship - and have it possibly escalate to more - then they'd both need to at least know each other's _names_, right? Sayu had already given him hers before, when they first locked eyes - but, would he tell her his...?

He smiled. "I thought you would never ask, Sayu-chan. My name is Near." Sayu found herself smiling back at him, irony sweeping over her in huge waves.

_Near._ His name was Near.

How..._appropriate._

**Silent Knight: So...did you guys like it? Hate it? Think it was so-so? Let me know your thoughts with a review, please and thank you! :)**

**Also, should I write more Near/Sayu, venture over to Mello/Sayu and/or Light/Sayu, or just continue to write more L/Sayu? Or do you have other ideas as to which pairings I should do? I'd love to hear your guys' suggestions! It'd mean a lot to me!**

**Until next time, folks.**

**Silent Knight over and out!**


End file.
